Finally!

It's FINALLY cool enough here in Florida for me to wear a pair of socks! Yipppeee! I started knitting in Janaury. By the time I got around to finishing a pair of socks it was just too darn hot to wear them! This morning was super cold (in the high 30's I think) and I got to wear these:

These are the first pair of socks I ever attempted to make. Just plain janes knit on DPNs. Nothing fancy at all. But warm. Soft. I didn't anticipate how good it would feel to wear them!

Everyone should have a pair of hand knit socks!

Yummmm

Every once in a while I'll make a bunch of appetizers for the family to snack on. Yesterday was one of those days. Just a few this time though. None of them Weight Watcher friendly but about once a month I have a free day. I piled everything up and went to finish up something I'd been working on. 10 minutes later when I went back to get a plate, this was almost all gone. Thankfully, there was a bite or 2 left and some chicken salad. Boys. 'Nuff said.

Here they are with my parents. This is an older picture but I love it. C is on the left. He looks the same. J is on the right. I used an older picture because J is in a Grizzly Adams phase. If you're younger you probably need to think more Seattle Grunge but it really is more Grizzly Adams. He's way hairier all over. Couldn't spring that on you the first time.

Progress!

I finished my Falling Water Scarf! This has been almost exclusively a lunch time project. This is steamed blocked and I'm not happy with the results so it'll be blocked again.

Pattern: Falling Water (Ravelyr Link)

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted Merino

Needles: Size 8

Last Wednesday at my quilting class, the instructor and I went over how I could improve how my points (is that the right term?) are matching up. In my prior post you could see the worst mismatched block in the lower left hand corner. The class went over the techniques I could use to fix it (I had gotten a bit ahead and was only to have my rows sewn; not the whole thing). Turns out I had one block that was cut a big larger than it should have been. So I went back and fixed this block and the one next to it. Looks SO much better. I'm learning loads with this class. I need to be more careful to square up my blocks and I learned how I can ease the fabric to make it match. I also hadn't pinned along the way and will never skip that step again!

I've signed up for another class. This one will either make me get my points correct or it's going to kick me in the rear big time! It's bunches and bunches of tiny blocks that HAVE to line up.

Knitty Friends

Here are a couple of more pictures from our Yarn Harlot Gathering. I managed to talk to just a few people as I was exhausted from a tough day at work. Here is a link to the Yarn Harlots Blog about her visit to Jacksonville. Kim and Corrina were both mentioned by the Yarn Harlot!

Tracey and Kathy - commonly known as "The Sisters". They're a hoot!
Sitting and knitting in the lobby before the doors opened.

Sock Goddess Kim!

Jennifer and her stunning Pi Shawl!

First Quilt Top Finished!

One thing I learned is that I have a lot to learn. My blocks didn't match up like they should. The worst one is in the lower left hand corner. I'm going to pick that one out and fix it. I need to work on maintaining a 1/4" seam consistently, pressing correctly, pining, and squaring up. But I had an absolute blast and already thinking of taking a 2nd class! I'm going to learn to free motion quilt as well; one way or another. I called my Dad and let him know that I was quilting and we talked a bit about his mother and her quilting activities and her old Singer sewing machine. It was a nice conversation and nice to talk about it with him!

Yarn Harlot Visits North Florida!

On Thursday, North Florida had the great honor of having the Yarn Harlot visit as part of her book tour. All I can say is what an amazing, funny, brilliant woman! I couldn't manage to knit and listen to her at the same time so I put my needles away. My pictures turned out awful...a setting must have been jostled somewhere. I had a tough day at the office and was exhausted but I laughed and laughed and laughed. I managed to snag a seat right in the front row and I was super glad as I don't see things in the distance very well. I was able to spend some time chatting with Sharon and while I know her from the shop, we don't often get a chance to talk just the 2 of us. The lady on my right, Donna, was so friendly and I really enjoyed meeting her. She quilts too and gave me some good tips and shop ideas. That's the thing about knitters....pull out the needles and we immediately have somthing in common and something to break the ice. Knitters are easy to talk to and easy to get to know. I feel comfortable in a room full of knitters even though I didn't personally know most of them.

Stephanie spoke about at lots of things but one thing she touched on was how she is a worrier and an over thinker. I'm not much of a worrier myself. At least not on a regular basis. Before coming to see her speak, I had run home from work, let the dogs out, and cooked dinner for the guys and left it on the stove. I figured it would stay warm for a while and the guys would have a chance at a warm diner. So while Stephanie was talking about how she worries about things, I started wondering. Did I remember to turn off the burners? Both burners? I had moved the rice but didn't move the bourbon chicken. That's the really hot burner. What if when I turned it off, it didn't turn off all the way? Where were the kids and when would they be home? How long would it take for the Bourbon chicken to start to smoke? I finally decided that by that time if my house was going to burn down, it would be burnt down and time to quit worrying!

It was an amazing evening and if you ever get a chance to hear her speak you certainly don't want to miss it!

How I spent Columbus Day

I started with this: And ended up with this:

Clearly, I'm not neat. In fact, this photo is very kind.

I'm taking my first quilt class at The Olde Green Cupboard. My quilt is called Between Friends, a simple easy pattern from a book called Happy Hour. No borders. You start with very large blocks that you cut down. You can make another quilt with the scraps or a table runner. I think I'm going to make the table runner. My instructor, Carol, is very patient and explains things so very well! I'm definitely already addicted!

Lots of other very exciting crafty things going on this weekend but I'm going to save that for another post. I still have some pictures yet to take.

Taking the Plunge

I'm doing it. I'm taking the plunge. I start my first quilting class tomorrow night!

The weekend I went to the quilt fest. There is an area where you can stop and sew an item for a charitable organization. I looked over and saw this:

A woman and her granddaughter. She was kind of leaning over and in my mind she was talking to her granddaughter, encouraging her. It made me miss my grandmother who loved to quilt and who passed away when I was 8. I never really got to know her.

Later in the weekend, I spoke on the phone with my brother who lives in Austin. He's not the sentimental sort. Doesn't get emotional. You know the type....a GUY! He is 8 years younger than me and ALL of our grandparents had passed away by the time he was born. I relayed the story to him of this scene. And told him how much I missed not having this experience. He said to me "You will still be able to do this...but instead of doing it with our grandmother, you'll have it with your granddaughter". My brother has his moments and this was one of them. I don't have grandchildren yet (and who knows they may be all boys) but he's right. And if I don't have granddaughters, my brother has 2 girls.

I signed up for a beginning quilting class a couple of days later.

Finished!

I finished my first Fair Isle project! I must say it wasn't as difficult as I thought. Learned a lot with this project besides Fair Isle: I cord, braiding, and 3 needle bind off. Love learning new things!

Happy Monday!

More Quilts

Here are a couple more quilts from the QuiltFest last weekend. I wasn't together enough to write down the quilters names to give them credit. This quilt won for machine quilting.

Here is a close up of the quilting. I'm so glad this picture came out. You can see a bit of the different patterns in the quilting. Amazing!

This quilt had lots and lots of little bitty strips of fabric.
I'm feeling the need to learn to do this!

I went to the QuiltFest realizing it may be "overload" for someone who has an interest in quilting but knows virtually nothing about it. My goal was to come away with one thing/fact/item learned. Thanks to Jeannine, I have several:

1. Using a longarm is pretty awesome! I was able to briefly try out a Gammil! Jeannine gently pushed me to do it and I'm glad she did.

2: I didn't think I liked batiks. I LOVE THEM!

3: Quilting can be very ornate and arty as well as simple and traditional. I knew the simple and traditional but I had no idea at how arty they can get or how complicated. A quilt with Crown Royal bags? Never would have thought that would happen....